Old Love Versus New Love
by E. Limberg
Summary: Danny and Lindsay are getting married... and decide to use their wedding to get Mac and Stella together. Will they pull it off or not?


**Old Love Versus New Love**

"You look nice," Mac approaches her.

"Lindsay let me have some say in the dress. She didn't want it to be too ugly," she smiles. "You look handsome in your tux."

He blushes, "Are you flirting with me?"

"No," Stella reaches up to adjust his bowtie.

"Why did Danny want me to be the best man?" he reaches into his pocket for the hundredth time to make sure the rings are still in there.

"You'll be fine," she kisses his cheek lightly. "Now how much time do we have?"

"Ten minutes."

"You go look for Danny; I'll check on Lindsay again." The couple splits up.

Mac finds Danny pacing outside the entrance to the chapel. "Nervous?"

He laughs, "Just a little."

"You'll be fine. You're in love."

"Did you feel like this when you were married?"

"Yes," he admits, "but it's worth it in the end."

"Mac, thanks for being my best man. Louie's still in a coma and all, and it's thanks to you that I'm where I am. You took a big risk by hiring me."

"And you've done a good job."

**Love**

"Stella, I can't do this," Lindsay sits down, frustrated.

"Yes, you can. Someone has to get married, and it's not going to be me." They share a smile. "Everyone knew you and Danny would end up together after your first day here."

"You couldn't tell after only one day!"

"Don and I had a bet going. But we both lost; we thought it'd be sooner."

She shakes her head, "That's okay. There's a bigger bet on you and Mac."

"Mac? Why us?"

"It's more obvious than Danny and me. And you don't even realize it."

"We'll never be more than close friends."

"If you want to miss out on it, go ahead. But I think you and Mac would be happy together."

The two women sit in silence until Lindsay's sister, another bride's maid, knocks on the door. "Are you ready yet, Lindsay?"

"We're coming."

"Think about it, Stel," she says quietly as they head out.

**Love**

As the preacher talks, Mac stares at Stella. Feeling his eyes on her, she turns to look over at him. "What?" she mouths. He just smiles at her.

She turns back to the ceremony but finds it hard to focus. Lindsay's words keep echoing in her head: _I think you'd be happy together. _The more she thinks about it, the more it begins to grow on her. She had cared about him for some time now but had kept her feelings hidden… most of the time. But could he possibly love her back?

Lindsay's sister nudges her, "Take the flowers."

Quickly Stella reaches out to take the bouquet so Danny and Lindsay can join hands to say their vows. She focuses on Mac, who is now pulling the rings out for the couple.

"He was eyeing you earlier," Lindsay's friend from back in Montana whispers. "I think he likes you."

"I do," Danny says loudly.

Lindsay then repeats her vows before placing the ring on his finger. When asked, she answers with, "I do."

"You may now kiss the bride," the preacher declares. After a very lengthy kiss, he goes on. "I pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Messer."

The couple proceeds to exit with the bridal party and best man following them out. An hour later, the reception begins with the entrance of the newlyweds. Flack hits his spoon against his glass to get the two to kiss.

After the meal, the DJ announces the couple's first dance together, inviting the wedding parties up first. As the best man and maid of honor, Mac and Stella have to dance together. She gently takes his hand and rests her other on his shoulder, trying to keep her heart from racing at his touch.

"It was a nice ceremony," he comments.

"You stared at me the whole time. How would you know?"

"Well, it gets a little boring to listen to the preacher talk. Plus, you're much nicer to look at than him."

She looks down, "You know there's a bet about us in the lab."

"What kind of bet?"

"On when we'll… get together."

"Like date?" he frowns.

"Apparently they think we… belong together."

"So you feel it too?" Mac asks timidly.

"I… yes."

Danny looks over at their friends, "I think it's working."

His wife follows his gaze, "Wow, I didn't think it would."

"But with those two, it could just be the usual flirting."

When the song ends, Mac and Stella leave the floor. "Do you want to go out tomorrow night? On a date?" he shyly takes her hand.

"I'd love to. Pick me up at six?"

"Sure."

She kisses his cheek, "You're cute when you're nervous."

As they pass the bar, he gets them both a drink. "I hope Danny and Lindsay are happy together."

"They will be," she rests her head on his shoulder as they watch the people dancing.

Flack approaches them. "I was going to ask you to dance, but it looks like you've already picked your partner."

"No," she hands Mac her drink. "I can dance."

A pang of jealousy rises in him as she leaves for another man, but he quickly pushes this down, realizing she'd never do that to him. He watches her dance with Don, then Sheldon, before coming back to him. "I'm offended."

She sits beside him, frowning. "It was one dance, Mac."

"I'm just teasing. I know I can't have you all to myself."

"I wouldn't cheat on you."

Half an hour later the Messers find their friends, dragging them onto the dance floor. Danny and Stella dance while Mac is paired with Lindsay. Afterwards, the wedding cake is cut, and the newlyweds feed each other.

Mac brings them each a piece of cake. "You're looking tired."

"I got up at seven. And I don't think we got home until one last night."

"I can take you home if you want."

"No, it's only nine-thirty now. Maybe in another hour." Stella glances at him. "You have icing…" she wipes it off the corner of his mouth with her napkin.

"Thanks," he blushes. "I'll get us both another drink."

Shortly after he leaves, Flack walks up with a drink for her. "So when are you and Mac going to do this?"

"Do what?" she takes a long sip of her drink. "You don't mean get married, do you?"

"Don, are you trying to steal my girlfriend again?" Mac returns, putting the second drink beside her.

"Girlfriend? I was just asking her when you're wedding is."

"Not for a while."

"But you are together?"

"Our first date is tomorrow."

"Ooh, I love this song. Let's dance," she drags him onto the floor as one of her favorite love songs comes on.

"Stel, how much did you drink?" he asks, noticing she has become a little clumsy.

"Only six or seven."

"No more after you finish what you have."

"I'm okay," she steps on his foot. "Whoops."

"You're on your way to being drunk."

"Don't worry about me. I'm not driving or anything." When the song is over, he leads her back to the table. "You know I can't remember the name of that song. But I like it," she downs the rest of the drink Don gave her.

"So you told me."

"I know this song too," she frowns in thought.

"The chicken dance?"

"Yeah. Kind of dumb, isn't it?"

For the next half hour they watch the guests dance. She finishes her drinks and is leaning against him. "Stel?" he looks at her; she has fallen asleep.

Danny and Lindsay take a break and sit down next to them. "What's wrong with her?"

"I think she drank a little too much. Can you see if there's a room available?"

Ten minutes later Danny returns with a key. "They put it on our bill. You can pay us back later."

"Thanks. Have fun on your honeymoon and congratulations." Mac picks Stella up gently and carries her up to the room. As he lays her on the bed, he vaguely realizes they will have to sleep in one bed.

He removes both their shoes and pulls his jacket and button-down shirt off. Glancing at her, he decides sleeping in a bride's maid's dress wouldn't be very comfortable. Uneasily he lifts her up to unzip her dress and carefully removes it. Trying not to stare at her almost naked body, Mac puts his dress shirt on her and buttons enough of it up to cover her. He carefully places the sheet over her before climbing into the bed on the other side.

A few minutes later he feels an arm wrap around his stomach and a body press against his back. Slowly his body lets go of the tension from her touch, and he eases into sleep in her arms.

**Love**

Mac wakes up in the morning when he feels movement beside him. "Good morning. Sleep okay?"

She looks at him, sitting up. "We didn't… did we?"

"No," he assures quickly. "You kind of passed out at the reception so I thought staying here would be easier than trying to get you home. Danny didn't think to ask for two beds I guess."

Stella rubs her head. "And why do I have your shirt on?"

"Sleeping in your dress didn't look too comfortable so I put that on you."

"Oh… thanks I guess."

"Your head okay?"

She shakes her head, "Why'd you let me drink that much?"

"Go take a shower while I get us decent coffee and something to eat." He hesitates, "Uh… I'm going to need my shirt."

She slips it off before entering the bathroom. When she comes out half an hour later, her dress is lying on the bed. After she puts it back on, he comes in from the balcony and helps her zip it up. "Sorry about last night."

"It's okay," he offers her a large blueberry muffin from a bag and a cup of coffee.

As they eat, she asks, "How'd you get me up here?"

"I… carried you."

"You could have just put me on one of those luggage carts."

He laughs, "No, you would've fallen off."

She smiles, "I probably need to get home."

"I'll drive you," he offers.

When they park outside her apartment, she gets out. "I had a good time, Mac. Thanks."

"Are we still going out today?"

"I don't particularly feel like going out; I'm really sorry, Mac."

"Would you being willing to… come to my house? I can make us dinner."

She contemplates this. "Okay. Six?"

"See you later then."

"Mac," Stella hesitates. "You do know that Danny and Lindsay set us up, right?"

Mac looks at her for a moment before nodding. "And I'm glad they did."

"Me too. But we have to get them back somehow."

**A/N: Another story I started during study hall the last couple weeks of school because I had nothing better to do. I was planning on making the story longer when I first got the idea, but it didn't turn out like that. Oh, well... it's still decent. I've spent my day watching Beowulf. First was some guy telling the story, well, the first third of it, in the language it was written. He was entertaining, but it got boring since I couldn't understand him. And when you watch a movie, you're not suppose to have to read. Maybe I shouldn't have put subtitles of there. Then I'd have no idea what he was talking about. And I watch some older version that wasn't too much like the book. It wasn't old, but it wasn't the newest version. I still have to watch that one. And Eaters of the Dead, which I finally finished. It actually wasn't that bad... I just didn't see the point of it in the beginning. Except I can't find a theme or symbols or... maybe foreshadowing or connections. I don't know really know... I just had lots of empty blocks on my sheet. And there's no sparknotes for it. So... I got my ACT scores back... I was okay with my overall of thirty-one, but the writting section I sucked at. But I can take that part again with the SAT... I think that part is pretty much the same... just a different topic. My science part could have been higher, but that was the section I felt the most rushed during... I had five minutes to do the whole last passage, so I went straight to the questions and had no idea what they were talking about and couldn't get the article read in time. Anyway... I hope you liked this... next story will be Wednesday maybe. It's one of my favorites... I had the two go to Cleveland on a case and they had an extra day there so... they went to an amusement park. Someone's kind of scared of roller coasters... I won't spoil it though. Please review. Thanks.**


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